If you are using a letting agent to find a tenant for your property, the agent will almost definitely run a Tenant Credit Check on your prospective tenants to ensure that they are financially sound. This is a step that landlords not using letting agents often miss out of the process of filling a property, but it is still an important one. While not the only way of ascertaining the suitability of a prospective tenant – references and copies of payslips/bank statements are also useful and important – a credit check is a good indicator of their financial stability.
There are plenty of services online which provide Tenant Credit Checks. These vary in price and some are more comprehensive than others, but you may decide it is worth paying a bit of money for peace of mind. However, if you want to avoid costs completely, there are a limited number of websites which provide free credit checks.
Rentify:
Rentify is an online letting agent, but also has a number of tools for landlords wanting to deal with their own letting and management. One of these tools is a free Tenant Credit Check service, which includes name verification, date of birth, Electoral Register check, salary, bankruptcies, County Court Judgements and credit score. They do also offer a more comprehensive report at £49.99 if you want more than just the basics.
Lettingref:
Lettingref provides a referencing service for landlords and also provides Tenant Credit Checks. Lettingref offer one free credit check when signing up, however charges apply for any future checks.
PIMS (Property Information Made Simple):
PIMS is a comprehensive website offering information, documents and tools for landlords and letting agents. They offer free Tenant Credit Checks including confirmation of previous addresses, date of birth, County Court Judgements, Individual Voluntary Arrangements, debt collection activity and credit score.
However, there is a catch – this service is for members only, and even then it is limited to 5 checks per year for landlords or 10 checks per year for letting agents. Membership to the website costs from £79.95 per year or £29.95 per quarter and provides several other benefits such as helplines, free documents, Professional Indemnity cover, exclusive discounts and more. It may not, strictly speaking, be free but if you’re likely to use some or all of the other benefits extensively you may decide it is worth the cost.
When using an online Tenant Credit Check service, make sure you check what information you need. Many have forms to gather the required data, but as a minimum you can expect to need the tenant’s full name, current address, previous addresses and an authorisation to perform the credit check.
Also, check with the company you are using to find out what can be regarded as a low risk credit score. According to the PIMS website, their credit scores range from 400 to 650 with anything below 530 being regarded as risky, however different companies have different ranges and thresholds so if you change the service you use, check for variations in credit scores.
Write a Comment